Jimmy Was Right: PHILLIES IN 1st ... sort of

Jimmy Rollins - soon to be 2007 NL MVP (hopefully) - said it back in January: the Phillies are the team to beat in the NL East. Well today, after they played their 159th game of the season, the Phillies are in 1st place. Well, a tie for one. Will what Jimmy said over 7 months ago hold true come Sunday evening? The next 3 days will tell us. The Phillies stay in the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park to host the Washington Nationals who hope to play the spoilers role. The Mets also remain at home to face off versus another NL East foe, the Marlins. To say these last 3 games are critical is an understatement and, frankly, the last 20 games have been. The Phillies were 7 games back of the Mets in the NL East on September 12, and 2 games behind the Padres for the Wild Card.

Here are a few things that could happen this weekend, one that may be the most exciting of all of 2007:

1. The Phillies & Mets win the same amount of games - this leads to a 1 game playoff on Monday in Philadelphia to determine the NL East champion
2. Fist team to 2 wins...or loses - that is, if the Phillies win 2 and the Mets lose 2, the Phils are in (and vice versa)
3. Keep an eye on San Diego and Colorado...the Wild Card is such a mess! There is no way of explaining the possible scenarios here cause there over about 5,239,451,763 different scenarios (see this)

And what happens if the Phillies fall short? Well then Philadelphia is deprived of post season experience for the 14th consecutive year. And I will die a little inside. After all, the Phillies have made the playoffs ONCE in my lifetime. And let us never speak of that experience (the hero, the zero).

"I think we are the team to beat in the NL East -- finally"
Jimmy Rollins
January 22nd, 2007